"The world's greatest collection of American post-modern, nuclear family nostalgia and rampant gleeful post-war consumerism ever compiled onto DVD! Transferred from the original films, The series features an array of squeeky-clean, optimistic, historically-relevant 16mm films from the 1950's and 1960's on subjects like: railroads, Investment bankers, office manners, correct public speaking, Thanksgiving, and Formica...just to name a few! Each 2 hour DVD comes individually packaged with full synopsis, segment titles and commentary in the text. It's American society as seen through the smoked-acrylic eyes of giant corporations and --captured like a new-fangled Polaroid snapshot on 29 digitally mastered DVD's from the ORIGINAL films and negatives. ONLY from Something Weird Video. Hurray, America! Gosh, we were cool back then." [Distributor's description]

Vol. 1 What makes America great? Why, business, of course! And as the following time capsule proves, a good American is a good consumer. Topics include: Exhibits at the 1939 World's Fair, The perfect housewife's helper, Roll-Oh, the robot, a look at the kitchen of the future, modern (1958) design, a tribute to the ultimate buying machine, the American housewife, billboards, Esso gasoline, the variety of jobs in an average American town: baker, cab driver, police officer, and Howdy Doody! and a tribute to the American trucking industry.

Vol. 3: Four featurettes plus one quick cartoon spotlight various aspects of the American dream. The Negro farmer discusses garden variety crops -- notably tobacco, peanuts, and cotton -- as well as poultry. Two of the films center around that all-purpose microcosm of America, the gas station (sponsored by Union Oil and Texaco). The cartoon is about investing in industry and is told entirely in rhyme "Why does John rate so from East coast to West? John Jones is a guy with some bucks to invest!"

Vol. 4: Inflation, neurotic parents, angry bosses, sloppy posture, Ronald Reagan, and the Space Needle are just part of the American scene on display in this star-spangled series. Don't miss Rip Van Winkle's descendant (Don Ameche) doing some comparison pricing shopping in 1951 and actor Ronald Reagan in an excerpt from The Ultimate weapon ranting on about Chinese communists and certain American lowlifes.

Vol. 5: Presents business film shorts produced from 1941 through 1964. Topics include: American automotive industry history through 1941, service station employment, public speaking, management of supermarkets, proper farm animal nutrition and high hairdos at the 1964 New York World's Fair.

Vol. 6:
Presents various government and business film shorts that take us from countryside to chemical plants and from picking cotton to selling Pontiacs.Topics include: Mississippi River, the American chemical industry, selling truck tires; employment as a Pontiac car dealer, and marriage and divorce.

Vol. 7: Oh, beautiful, for spacious skies, and.... for bed sheets, steaks, Cypress Gardens, and U.S. Royal Tires. Bates 11th presents a sales pitch for shop owners to stock Bates Fabrics; Ticket to freedom deals with citizens who don't vote. Features three films on the amazing American tire industry and concludes with the Greatest show on water with Southern belles and aqua-acrobatics off Florida's Cypress Gardens.

Contents: Bates 11th back to school promotion (1949) -- Cooking steaks (1956) -- Ticket to freedom (1960) -- U.S. Royal presents life protection tests at Death Valley -- Blowout prevention -- The Tire that changes everything. -- Our changing family life (1957) -- The Greatest show on water. DVD X5156

Vol. 8: Presents various government and business film shorts produced in the 1940s and 50s. Three films present picture-postcard views of America with powder-puff propaganda. Too Good To Be True warns about the "bait & switch" scams unscrupulous salesmen use to con consumers. But the prize goes to: The Enchanted Pot which features a talking pot -- "a fairy god-pot" -- who gives cooking suggestions to a happy housewife.

Contents: What it means to be American -- Our basic civil rights -- The Revolt of Charlie Winters -- Too good to be true -- The Enchanted pot -- This Is my land. DVD X5157

Vol. 9: Presents various government and business film shorts produced in the 1940s and 50s. Think of America and you immediately think of the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, The Bill of Rights... and Chevrolet Motors, who produced four of the seven shorts featured.

Contents: Importance of selling (1952) -- The Head man -- The Velvet glove -- Voting procedure -- What Mr. Bell had in mind -- What Is a house? -- Help yourself -- Defining democracy. DVD X5158

Vol. 10: Presents various government and business film shorts produced in the 1940s through 1960s. Of special note are: Talking of Tomorrow, a cartoon peek into the future as a mad scientist calls his nephew at Bell Telephone and gets the lowdown on flying cars, picture phones, heli-cycles, wrist-watch radios, and calls to outer space via an optical laser. Age of Specialization which shows a farmer at a general store in 1900 telling two old coots about the "social revolution" in industry that's about to occur which leads to a number of great stock-shot montages of the 20th century.

Vol. 11: Presents business & educational film shorts produced from 1946 through 1956. Topics include: Selling the new model 1952 Chevrolet, the value of talking over problems, both personal and business, freedom to read and book banning, the history of food preservation, immigration, careers in retail, and investing money in the New York Stock Exchange.

Vol. 12: Presents film shorts produced between the 1940s and the 1960s. Topics include: Man's eternal battle versus the weed, career suggestions for young ladies of 1949, a promotional film for an ad agency that specializes in animation featuring Dizzy Gillespie, a bleak look at the working class and poor, a strange take on money lending. The highlight of this collection is a paranoid Cold War fantasy where an average American finds out his wife, children, and friends have reject him for the Soviet system. An example of McCarthy era atmosphere and ideas.

Vol. 13: In troubled times, it's often important to look to the past for guidance and instruction in basic American values. And where better to look than these film shorts where we're taught basic Americanism from the Union of Retail Clerks, Texaco Oil, Boeing, and the Warner Electric Brake & Clutch Company. A watch for Joe concerns an abused clerk who works in an auto supply store who is persuaded to join a union.

Vol. 14: Two industrial shorts are presented here, both of them mini-epics from the Texaco Oil Company, in which the good ol' neighborhood gas station is a microcosm of America. Though their glossy production values make them look like Hollywood B-movies, both films are permeated with propaganda which attempts to turn viewers into Texamatic zombies programmed to invade the 'burbs and sell, brother, sell!

Vol. 15: Nothing says "America" better than good ol' capitalism, featured in these short films from the 1940s and 50s. The Wilson's Go To Town makes fun of a dysfunctional 1940's farm family cramming into a way-too-small auto who are persuaded to buy an International Harvester truck. What is Job Rating? is a commercial for Dodge trucks scored to Ravel's Bolero. Look, No Hands features a vaudevillian demonstrating the new invention the General Electric water cooler! PM is a cartoon featuring a bunch of cute, adorable little animals preparing for a big hoedown at the barn featuring PM Deluxe Blended Whiskey. So, c'mon, kids, drink up!

Contents: The Wilsons Go to Town -- What is Job Rating? -- PM -- Matter of Attitude -- Look, No Hands -- Developing More and Better Ideas. DVD X5164

Vol. 16: How do you spell "America"? That's right: C-h-e-v-r-o-l-e-t. Nine industrial short films followed by 10 slick color shorts all celebrating General Motors' Chevrolet automobile. The Big winner features 1956 Nascar race footage. Don't miss Thrill Drivers' Choice, a "Chevrolet action release" in which world champion stunt driver Joie Chitwood and members of his Auto Thrill Show perform all sorts of crackpot death-defying stunts in seemingly normal cars -- all of them 1956 Chevrolets!

Contents: Hall of wonders / Dave Garroway -- The Way you want it -- Help yourself -- Key to our horizons -- Magic touch -- Shopping around / William Frawley -- The Head man / Edward Everett Horton -- Thrill drivers' choice / Joie Chitwood -- Big winner -- 1954 Chevy shorts: Proof of the pluses; See new places; New era; You can take It with you; What's new; Low and behold; Do it yourself; Here's looking; First date; Be my guest! DVD X5165

Vol. 17: America's obsession with the automobile continues with these car culture classics from Chevrolet, Ford, Dodge and Pontiac. In So You Want Thrills country bumpkin Henry tries to join the Stock Car Death Dodgers by attempting to do the truck jump stunt but -- oops! -- crashes head on. Thank goodness Henry was driving a 1948 Dodge with "fluid drive"!

Vol. 18: Features five industrial shorts that will quickly remind everybody what bliss the early 1960s were... Visit the newly designed wonders of stainless steel, latex paints, the step-saving U-shaped kitchen, and the must-have fashions for 1961 (fashion trends inspired by First-Lady Mrs. Kennedy)

Vol. 19: Features five short films produced from the 1940's to 1960's which celebrate nothing less than the backbone of this great country -- that's right, American Industry! In Made in the U.S.A. a group from a small-town think people should stop buying from overseas and only purchase items made in America. A magician makes them eat their words by making every foreign-made part vanish from a good ol' American Automobile. Anything that has raw materials from "one of 58 foreign countries" simply disappears until the car's nothing but a worthless wreck!

Contents: Mr. Withers stops the clock / Edgar Stehli, James Broderick (1956) -- The Builders (1954) -- Made in the U.S.A. -- Land of the free -- Call it free.
DVD X5168

Vol. 20: Features four short films produced in the 1940's and 1950's. Crossroads for America is an anti-Communist scare film detailing how an average American citizen is chosen for corruption by the Reds. In Telephone Courtesy we see a parade of stupid, gum-chewing, and gabby secretaries, to demonstrate how companies can lose business if their employees have bad telephone etiquette. In Yours Truly, Ed Graham introduces a cross-section of average Americans (and a bunch of familiar Hollywood bit players). And who's there to take care of them all? Why Ed Graham, of course. How? By selling them life insurance.

Vol. 21: A tribute to the American consumer. Or, rather, as these four lengthy mini-movies show, how to hook 'em, reel 'em in, and empty their pockets. In Always Tomorrow we see the sheer joy of selling Coca-Cola. California Supermarket Kings presents the cut-throat, competitive battle for shelf space in the "sun-drenched tomorrowland" of Southern California. In Let's Face It, actor Milburn Stone presents a lesson in economics from U.S. Steel.

Vol. 22: Features four mini-epics that glorify the American landscape... while still managing to advertise major commercial products. American harvest shows the interdependence of all workers, jobs, and mechanization in the manufacturing process from raw materials to finished product, focusing on the Chevrolet automobile industry, and argues that this interdependence leads to greater personal independence and freedom of life. New Tobaccoland USA is a gleefully unapologetic paean to the tobacco used in Chesterfield Cigarettes. Rainbow valley portrays the work and responsibilities of U.S. forest rangers.

Vol. 23: Features contains five job-related shorts produced in the 1940s and 50s. America Looks Ahead, made right after World War II, has radio newscaster Lowell Thomas reflecting on where America is heading. The overall point is that business needs money and that's what post-war America also needs, so be patriotic and do some investing! You and Your Work shows how a vocational guidance counselor helps a young man who has just lost his job to change his attitude. That's Not My Job discusses the importance of training each employee to understand his role and his relationship to other employees.

Vol. 24: Features six film shorts celebrating American technology. Adam to Atom celebrates great Inventions with an odd mix of stock footage and scenes from a play. Specifically, the stage production presented at the Museum of Science & Industry of Chicago with lots of amateur-night thespians overplaying it as Johann Gutenberg, James Watt, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford. The Story of Television features many stock shots of early television labs, cameras, tubes, sets, and shows from 1931 (with experimental station W2XBS) through '56. Meat-O-Rama is an early cooking show presented by the National Live Stock and Meat Board. The Champion stars a young Don Knotts as a man eager to buy a new car with a slick engine and plenty of power, so he buys... a McCulloch go-cart. Wings to Hawaii is a 1966 travelogue prepared by Pan Am.

Vol. 25:Presents business & educational film shorts produced from the 1940s to the 1970s. A Matter of Convenience and The Thing about Courtesy both celebrate the joys of convenience stores. The Supervisor as a Leader and Problems in Supervision: Working with Other Supervisors concern issues of personnel supervision. In a lighter mood Screw Drivers of 1940 features comic Lew Lehr and Don Wilson making fun of a screwball driver and a dumb jay walker in this Texaco-made comedy.

Vol. 26:Presents film shorts produced from the 1940s to the 1950s. What is the essence of America? These five films answer that question very eloquently... In Joe Turner, American a small town businessman realizes the importance of participating in civic affairs when his grandson dies of an illness from poor city water. In Selling America Benjamin Franklin materializes to help a modern-day salesman sell modern-day products with Ben's old colonial-day rules. A Citizen Participates and The Antidote both present sick-child sagas and community responses to the need. By Jupiter stresses the theme "Courtesy is contagious" through a blend of fantasy and reality.

Vol. 27:Presents film shorts produced from the 1950s to the 1960s, most of which spotlight travel destinations where you and your family can fall in love with America. Features four Jam Handy Technicolor shorts made for Chevrolet which will give zest to your driving pleasure...in a Chevy, of course. Midwest Holiday is a travelogue for Standard Oil in which a reporter and some friends see the sights together -- from Lake Michigan to the Rocky Mountains, encompassing Old Faithful and the Iowa State Fair -- until love blooms. Engagement Party is a romance which quickly detours into a pitch for S&H Green Stamps!

Vol. 28: Presents film shorts produced from the 1950s to the 1970s, highlighting various aspects of American commerce -- from soda pop to secretaries to wigs and outboard motors! Partners in Progress charts the promotional strategy of Royal Crown Cola, featuring their newest spokesperson, Art Linkletter, who's happy to hawk America's favorite soda in between discussing "teenage morals, LSD, and the Vietnam War!" In Successful Secretary a talking Mr. Typewriter gives some helpful hints to various secretaries. In Wigging Out actress Tammy Grimes pushes groovy ultra-cool wigs.

Vol. 29: Presents film shorts produced from the 1940s to 1950s featuring various aspects of American life. Includes two shorts for 1953 and '54 Pontiacs, U.S. Tires, Chevy trucks and three films from the Centron Corporation's "speech series" addressing the do's and don'ts of successful communication.

Contents: Most important connection / Chevrolet -- All out on all fronts / U.S. Tires (1941) -- Destination: dotted line / Pontiac (1953) -- Look at Pontiac for 1954 -- Belonging to the group (1953) -- Speech: conversation (1953) -- Making yourself understood (1953) -- New tools for learning (1951)
DVD X5178

Vol. 30: Presents films produced from the 1940s through '60s featuring three lengthy shorts that illustrate the strong bond the American family has with that most sacred and noble of national institutions... the local gas station.

Vol. 31: Presents films produced from the 1940s through '60s. Americana and car culture are inexorably linked -- which is why three of these shorts once again focus on automobiles and those funny guys down at the local service station... In An Honorary Doctor's Degree in Driving TV announcer Durward Kirby guides us through some driving footage that shows us what might happen on the road -- especially with "brake braggers," "armless wonders," and "tail huggers" -- dangers that never upset an expert "doctor of driving"!

Vol. 32:
Presents films produced in the 1950s which depart from the usual upbeat Americana of the decade. The Other Side presents a picture of slums, poverty and despair as a plea for the Community Fund of Chicago. The Charming Couple is another dark one which chronicles a young couple who think they're in love and rush into marriage.... next stop, divorce court! Who's Boss continues the theme of marital discord with an endlessly bickering couple. Personality and Emotions tries to explain in simplistic terms how babies develop emotions and grow into troubled adolescents and screwed-up adults.

Contents: Face in the mirror / James Dunn, Robert Shayne -- The Other side / Community Fund of Chicago -- Proudly we hail -- The Charming couple (1950) -- Who's boss (1950) -- Personality and emotions (1954)
DVD X5181

Vol. 33: The optimism of the 1950s is celebrated in these films produced in the 1950s. The Million Dollar Castle is a mini-feature that extols the virtues of building your own home featuring Beulah Bondi as a meddling old busybody. The Man from Missouri continues with the home-building kick as Jim Tanner becomes wildly enthusiastic over asbestos siding in new homes. Mother Takes a Holiday is a valentine to the Whirlpool washing machine, while Starting with Sears presents a tour of Sears Roebuck and Company -- from selling retail at the stores to filling orders from the catalog -- aimed at newly hired salespeople

Vol. 34: A collection of short industrial films and films with patriotic themes originally produced in the 1950s and 60s. Born in Freedom is loosely based on the true story of Colonel Edwin L. Drake, who, in 1857, went to Titusville, Pennsylvania, where he drilled the first commercial oil well. From Every Mountain Side sings the praises of life insurance and insurance companies. Green Gold extolls the virtues of grassland farming while The Grass is Always Greener introduces underground irrigation systems, in this case for a golf course.

Vol. 35: A collection of short films of "all things Americana" originally produced in the 1950s and 60s. The Forest and the Woodsman shows what fun it is to be a "forest worker" in New England. Part-Time Farmer visits Maine where part-time agriculture is a way of life! Secret Cargo joins a scuba diver who is trying to find the underwater remains of the schooner The Martha Towne, a blockade runner for the South during the Civil War, that was sunk off the coast of Florida in 1864. Beer Belongs takes a tour of a 1953 brewery. A Sound Approach to Better Listening celebrates the joys of "life-like high fidelity."

Vol. 36: A collection of short films originally produced in the 1940s and 50s. Heritage for Victory takes us on a historical tour of the development of telephone technology beginning in 1869. In Let's Get Going a frustrated driver learns how to solve his problem of ice in the carburator at his local Standard service station. Start the Music is a promo for Standard Oil disguised as a comedy starring the comedian Edgar Kennedy who runs a service station beset with problems. The Great Swindle is an angry rant about the gross inflation that occurred after World War II and whether or not it's caused by the government lifting its control on prices.

Vol. 37: A collection of industrial shorts originally produced in the 1940s to 60s. The Magic Wand stars a miniature Marvin Miller as a tiny, turban-wearing magician who explains to service-station attendants the wonders of automobile lubrication with Alemite products. The Golden Touch features a perky blonde dancing around a display of Westinghouse air conditioners. Waggin' Wheels explains the importance of wheel alignment. It's Always First Class If It's Packed in Glass spreads the doctrine of unionization. The Hidden Side of Selling offers cheap psychology as a way for salesmen to break down customers. Ceiling on Your Home! looks at price controls imposed on landlords after World War II.

Vol. 38:A collection of industrial shorts originally produced in the 1950s and 60s. Modern Magazine Magic takes a tour of the magazine publishing firm Curtis Publishing featuring artist Norman Rockwell painting a new cover for The Saturday Evening Post. It's Still Mighty Cheap Insurance zeroes in Havoline Motor Oil while the remaining five films promote the Humble Oil gas-station.

Vol. 39: This collection of shorts originally produced from the 1940s to 60s features a grab-bag of Americana -- everything from washing machines, to home budgets, to working with women, to building a dog house. Why Budget details how three very different people manage their finances. A House for Albert demonstrates how to build a doghouse narrated by a St. Bernard. The Trouble with Women is from McGraw-Hill Film's plant supervisor's problem series about the good points and drawbacks of women factory workers. The last three films promote Atlas car batteries, and service at Standard and Humble gas stations.

Vol. 40: A collection of short films originally produced in the 1940s to 60s. Everybody Knows wants workers to stop being so greedy and to realize that every time a worker wants a raise, it hurts someone else. Lifeline of the Nation explains that if there were ever a nuclear attack in this country, we'll need railroads to handle the critical transportation problems. The First Hours of Ownership (featuring Bill Baird's Marionettes), How To Get Where You Want To Go, and The Number 1 Team all look at working in a Chevrolet dealership while the final two films give theater-goers a chance to win cash and prizes.

Contents: Everybody knows -- Lifeline of the nation (1958) -- The First hours of ownership / Barney Martin -- How to get where you want to go / Fred MacMurray; Bill Baird's Marionettes (1962) -- The Number 1 team (1967) -- The Gamecock bonanza -- World wide quiz (1952).DVD X5189

Vol. 41: A collection of short films originally produced in the 1940s to 60s. The Correct Thing demonstrates the proper way women should behave at work via contrasting secretaries. Cooking Terms and What They Mean presents a newlywed who explains simple cooking terms. Pay to the Order of has a banker telling a slow-witted store clerk about the wonderful world of writing checks. You Are the Star reveals "The drama of retail selling." Solid Gold Hours stars Monty Woolley as an assistant to Father Time, who teaches a gal how to help mortals find "more time for selling." In Your Voice is Showing comics demonstrate various kinds of "telephone discourtesy." Checkstand Procedure shows how the "modern" supermarket cashier of 1948 copes with customers by being a "practical psychologist."

Vol. 42: A collection of short films originally produced in the 1950s to 60s. Melody Comes to Town is a mini-drama about small-town show biz. Visit to CBS Color Television is a promotional piece by CBS heralding the transition from broadcasting in black-and-white to color. Banned Camay Soap Commercials are five cartoons in which a sexy cartoon woman uses Camay soap, then struts around before her aroused male audience. Drive-In Merchant Ads are 13 mint color commercials -- as well as fabulous snap-shots of Small-Town America -- that played during drive-in intermissions hawking local stores and eateries in the Ohio area.

Vol. 43: A collection of short films originally produced in the 1950s to 60s. What Now! is a public service film from The National Institute of Rug Cleaning. The Almost Perfect Weed Killer Caper is a comic tale of Russian agents who invade a farm (disguised as scarecrows) and abduct a farmer in the hope of learning why his soy bean crops are so healthy. Friendly Way and Man-Made Profits center around the local gas station, while Mighty Mister Titan hawks the Mister Titan TV Adventure Book for athletic boys who want to become astronauts.

Vol. 44: A collection of short films originally produced in the 1940s to 50s. The Parent's Role as Teacher warns parents against "horror shows" admonishing them to make sure kids go to bed on time and not stay up watching TV. In The Chevy That Wanted to be a Cadillac a 1939 talking Chevy does various things to try and fool the world into thinking it's a new Cadillac, eventually getting crushed in a junkyard and its metal melted down into new Cadillac parts. At Your Fingertips promotes cigars while The Longest Run stars a couple of Gumby lookalikes: Vinny Vinyl and Ringo Binder, two school book binders made alive by stop-motion animation, who tout the joys of Acco plastic.

Contents: Sylvan holiday in Pennsylvania -- Old McDonald's farm (1952) -- The Parent's role as teacher -- Report on the 43rd National Automobile Show -- The Chevy that wanted to be a Cadillac -- At your fingertips -- The Longest run. DVD X5193

Vol. 45: A collection of short films originally produced in the 1940s through 1960s. A Place Called Home is about Boys Town founded for homeless children by Father Flanagan. Pilferage exposes the horrors of shoplifting in the supermarkets of America. The Fight Game offers a brief history of early boxing highlighting such champs as Gene Tunney, Jack Dempsey, and Joe Louis, and then seques into showcasing the pint-size fighters of the Police Athletic League. The Power of Enthusiasm stars two of early-TV's most famous fathers Hugh Beaumont (Leave It to Beaver) and Carl Betz (The Donna Reed Show) demonstrating how salesmen can show "enthusiasm." A Day Like Any Other shows how you can bring in a few extra bucks by selling milk, while Grooving for Safety looks at the dangers of hydroplaning.

Contents: Place called home -- The Farmer's telephone -- Pilferage (1948) -- The Fight game (1948) -- The Power of enthusiasm (1956) -- A Day like any other -- Grooving for safety -- Have camera did travel! DVD X5194